Beginning today, I am willingly return to the obit desk, were I my career as a journalist began. It was a formulaic assignment for beginners, but one that demanded that the basic cornerstones living and dying be laid out. It was good training. But, like others before me, it is an assignment I grew out of as quickly as possible. This time around, I will find real value in writing two or three profiles of ordinary people who lived well, contributed and died (as we all must). No muss, no fuss, no fanfare. There couldn’t be a more satisfying coda on a career than writing about people who added texture to the fabric of our world if beloved heroes only to their families and close friends.